SI

Chris Fowler Had a Lot of Fun With the Betting Aspect of the Awful Titans-Dolphins Game

The ESPN broadcaster wasn’t shy about referencing the over/under of the Titans-Dolphins game.

Jimmy Traina

Chris Fowler didn't pull punches during his call of the Titans-Dolphins game.
Chris Fowler didn't pull punches during his call of the Titans-Dolphins game. / Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

1. While normal football fans were locked into the riveting Seahawks-Lions Monday Night Football game on ABC, degenerates like yours truly were keeping an eye on the Titans-Dolphins pig of a game on ESPN.

Why?

Because the over/under was 37 and with the score 24–12, the Titans took over at Miami’s 10-yard line with 2:27 left in the game. This came after a crazy series of events that saw Tennessee record a safety, mass confusion on the ensuing punt and then a penalty on the Dolphins that set up the Titans with the first-and-goal situation.

This is when ESPN’s Chris Fowler decided to cater to the exact audience he knew was still tuned into the game.

“The penalty moves the ball and Tennessee with take over at the 10-yard line,” said Fowler. “This is, umm, of interest to some, with the score 24–12. Some hoping they don’t take a knee.”

Then Fowler got brutally honest about the awful game he just called. “Searching for reasons people might be locked in on this.”

Fowler then went back to slyly referencing the over/under. “This was expected to be a loooow-scoring game, and it’s been even slightly lower-scoring than expected.”

This was very well done by Fowler and this is what we need from every play-by-play person in the NFL. If the league is going to BOMBARD you with promos for DraftKings, FanDuel and every other betting company, the people calling the games should be able to reference what the hell is going on when it comes to the spread and total.

Oh, and the game ended with Tony Pollard running the ball into the end zone on fourth-and-goal to give under bettors one of the worst bad beats they will endure this season after a halftime score of 9–3.

“What a wave of emotion,” analyst Dan Orlovsky said, getting in on the over/under scenario.

“Did you see that burst?” asked Fowler. “Many appreciated that burst.”

Not the under bettors, Chris. Not the under bettors.

2. The great Kevin Harlan was on the Westwood One radio call of the Seahawks-Lions game last night. As one would expect, his call of Amon-Ra St. Brown’s touchdown pass to Jared Goff was vintage Kevin Harlan.

ESPN’s Joe Buck had a great call of the play on the TV side, as well.

3. Speaking of electric calls, Chris “Mad Dog” Russo was live on his SiriusXM radio show during the Mets' roller coaster win against the Braves on Monday. Russo put his talk radio format on hold to do some play-by-play and put forth a tremendous performance that perfectly conveyed the emotion of that wild game.

For all of the notable calls from Mets and Braves broadcasters of New York’s surreal 8–7 win to clinch a playoff spot, check out the tweet below.

4. Here is this week’s edition of the best recurring segment on sports TV: Bad Beats.

5. If you’re a college football fan who enjoys the work of Joe Tessitore, you have to check this out even if you aren’t a WWE fan. Tessitore, who is now the lead play-by-play voice of Monday Night Raw, was on the call for the one-two punch of the ring collapsing during a match and the return of Seth Rollins last night.

And if you’re a WWE fan who doesn’t care about college football, enjoy Rollins’s return because it was very well done.

6. The latest episode of SI Media With Jimmy Traina features a conversation with ESPN’s top MLB insider, Jeff Passan.

Passan discusses the recent retirement of Adrian Wojnaroswki and what the life of an insider is like. Does he bring his phone into the shower? Does he break stories from the toilet? Where was the oddest place he’s broken news?

Passan also talks about Major League Baseball’s popularity problem, MLB’s TV issues and what three things he’d do if he were commissioner for a day.

Passan also shares the story of getting The Rock to leave his outgoing answering machine message while in college and the story of getting seriously injured by a tree limb.

Following Passan, Sal Licata from WFAN radio and SNY TV in New York joins me for our weekly “Traina Thoughts” segment. In this week’s segment, I read recent Apple reviews for SI Media With Jimmy Traina, and we discuss The Bear and the Pine Barrens episode of The Sopranos, Chiefs running back Carson Steele missing his sister’s wedding because she scheduled it when he had a game, John Sterling returning to the Yankees, and much more.

You can listen to the SI Media With Jimmy Traina below or on Apple and Spotify.

You can also watch SI Media With Jimmy Traina on Sports Illustrated‘s YouTube channel.

7. RANDOM VIDEO OF THE DAY: Happy 55th birthday to the hilarious Zach Galifianakis. Between Two Ferns does not get the credit it deserves as being one of the funniest pieces of entertainment ever.

Be sure to catch up on past editions of Traina Thoughts and check out the Sports Illustrated Media Podcast hosted by Jimmy Traina on Apple, Spotify or Google. You can also follow Jimmy on Twitter and Instagram.

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Jimmy Traina
JIMMY TRAINA

Jimmy Traina is a staff writer and podcast host for Sports Illustrated. A 20-year veteran in the industry, he’s been covering the sports media landscape for seven years and writes a daily column, Traina Thoughts. Traina has hosted the Sports Illustrated Media Podcast since 2018, a show known for interviews with some of the most important and powerful people in sports media. He also was the creator and writer of SI’s Hot Clicks feature from 2007 to '13.

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